Anguttara Nikaya X.48
Dasa Dhamma Sutta
Ten Things
For free distribution only.
“There are these ten things that a person gone-forth should reflect on often. Which ten?
1. “‘I have become casteless’: a person gone forth should often reflect on this.
2. “‘My life is dependent on others’: a person gone forth should often reflect on this.
3. “‘My behavior should be different [from that of householders]’: a person gone forth should often reflect on this.
4. “‘Can I fault myself with regard to my virtue?’: a person gone forth should often reflect on this.
5. “‘Can my knowledgeable fellows in the holy life, on close examination, fault me with regard to my virtue?’: a person gone forth should often reflect on this.
6. “‘I will grow different, separate from all that is dear & appealing to me’: a person gone forth should often reflect on this.
7. “‘I am the owner of my actions (kamma), heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir’: a person gone forth should often reflect on this.
8. “‘What am I becoming as the days & nights fly past?’: a person gone forth should often reflect on this.
9. “‘Do I delight in an empty dwelling?’: a person gone forth should often reflect on this.
10. “‘Have I attained a superior human attainment, a truly noble distinction of knowledge & vision, such that — when my fellows in the holy life question me in the last days of my life — I won’t feel abashed?’: a person gone forth should often reflect on this.
“These are the ten things that a person gone-forth should reflect on often.”
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Revised: Thu 7 November 2002